Communion Scraps and Scrapes
What Do We Believe?
Would
it surprise you to learn that you comprise
the remnant of
The
Supper isn’t just a “New Testament” practice.
It’s an extension of the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread described in
Exodus and observed the world over. The first
day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is called Passover. Yahweh tells
us, “You will keep that day, generation after generation; this is a decree for all time.” “Generation after generation” means
forever. “All time” means “our time.”
Snyder Bible Home All Sermons
This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist
Understanding of Holy Communion
Early Christians and the Real Presence
Bypass Scripture – Go directly to Message
Matthew 26:17-19, 26-29
(These are Holy Wednesday readings)
John 6:1. After this, Yahshua crossed the Sea of
Literal: Yochanan 6:1 After these things, Yahshua went away, across the Sea of the Galil (the
Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd followed him for they saw the signs that he did
on the infirm[1]; 3
and Yahshua went up into the mountain and sat with his students. 4 And it was nigh unto Pascha, the Festival
of the Jews.
5 So Yahshua,
lifting the eyes and observing that a great crowd is coming toward him, he says
to Philip, Where can we buy loaves[2]
so that these may eat? 6 And he said
this, trying[3]
him, for he already knew what he was
about to do.
7 Philip answered
him, Loaves worth two hundred denarii[4]
are not enough for them all that each may have but a little.
8 One of his
students, Adam[5],
the brother of Shimón (a Rock) says, 9 There is a youth here who has
five barley loaves and two fish, but what is (sic) these into so great a
crowd.
10 Yahshua said,
Make the people[6] to
lie down[7].
Now there was
much grass in the place. So the people,
the number of them about five
thousand, laid themselves down. 11 So Yahshua took the loaves and, having
given thanks[8],
gave them out to the ones lying down
– same also of the fish – as much as they wished. 12 And when they were filled[9],
he tells his students, Gather together[10]
the scraps left over so that nothing is lost.
13 So they gathered and filled twelve baskets of scraps of the five
barley loaves that were left over from those who had eaten.
Exodus 12:1,15-20 1. Yahweh
said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 15. For seven days you must eat
unleavened bread. On the first day you must clean the leaven out of your
houses, for anyone who eats leavened bread from the first to the seventh day
must be outlawed from Israel. 16. On the first day you must hold a sacred assembly,
and on the seventh day a sacred assembly. On those days no work may be done;
you will prepare only what each requires to eat. 17. You must keep the feast of
Unleavened Bread because it was on that same day that I brought your armies out
of Egypt. You will keep that day, generation after generation; this is a decree
for all time. 18. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day
until the evening of the twenty-first day, you must eat unleavened bread. 19.
For seven days there may be no leaven in your houses, since anyone, either
stranger or citizen of the country, who eats leavened bread will be outlawed
from the community of Israel. 20. You will eat nothing with leaven in it;
wherever you live, you will eat unleavened bread.’” (NJB)
Proverbs
9:1-6 1. Wisdom has built herself a house, she has hewn her seven pillars, 2.
she has slaughtered her beasts, drawn her wine, she has laid her table. 3. She has dispatched her maidservants and
proclaimed from the heights above the city, 4. “Who is simple? Let him come
this way.” To the fool she says, 5.
“Come and eat my bread, drink the wine which I have drawn! 6. Leave foolishness
behind and you will live, go forwards in the ways of perception.”
Psalm
75 responsive
We give thanks to you, Father, we
give thanks to you,
as we call upon your
name, as we recount your wonders.
“At the appointed time I myself
shall dispense justice. The earth quakes and all its inhabitants; it is I who
hold its pillars firm.”
“I said to the boastful,
‘Do not boast!’ to the wicked, ‘Do not flaunt your strength! Do not flaunt your
strength so proudly, do not talk with that arrogant stance.’”
No longer from east to west, no
longer in the mountainous desert, is Elohim judging in uprightness, bringing
some down, raising others.
Yahweh is holding a cup
filled with a heady blend of wine; he will pour it, they will drink it to the
dregs, all the wicked on earth will drink it.
But I shall speak out for ever,
shall make music for the God of Jacob.
I shall break down all the strength of the wicked, and the strength of the upright will rise high.
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Eucharist – Early Christians and the Real Presence
Melissa Aman -
BellaOnline
The doctrine
of the Real Presence in the Eucharist has been around since the very beginning
of the church. For the first several hundred years of Christianity the Real
Presence was understood. It was taken for granted. It wasn't questioned. The
early Christians didn't doubt Christ's true presence in the Eucharist. Quite
the contrary.
Here
are a few quotes from some of those earliest Christians affirming this most
important doctrine of our faith.
Paul
(1 Cor 10:15-16)
"I
speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of
thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?
And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?"
St.
Ignatius of
"Consider
how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God
which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the
orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty.
They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that
the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered
for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the
dead." (Letter to the Smyrnaeans)
"I
have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I
want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David;
and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed."
(Letter to the Romans)
"This
food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one
who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing
for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to
us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as
Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for
our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the
Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are
nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate
Jesus." (First Apology, 66)
St.
Clement of
"The
Word is everything to a child: both Father and Mother, both Instructor and
Nurse. 'Eat My Flesh,' He says, 'and drink My Blood.' The Lord supplies us with
these intimate nutrients. He delivers over His Flesh, and pours out His Blood;
and nothing is lacking for the growth of His children. O incredible mystery!"
(Instructor of Children)
St.
Basil the Great (c. 330 - 379 A.D.)
"What
is the mark of a Christian? That he be purified of all defilement of the flesh
and of the spirit in the Blood of Christ, perfecting sanctification in the fear
of God and the love of Christ, and that he have no blemish nor spot nor any
such thing; that he be holy and blameless and so eat the Body of Christ and
drink His Blood; for 'he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh judgement to himself.' What is the mark of those who eat the Bread and
drink the Cup of Christ? That they keep in perpetual remembrance Him who died
for us and rose again." (The Morals, 22)
St.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 - 394 A.D.)
"The
bread is at first common bread; but when the mystery sanctifies it, it is
called and actually becomes the Body of Christ." (Orations and Sermons)
"After
the type had been fulfilled by the Passover celebration and He had eaten the
flesh of the lamb with His Apostles, He takes bread which strengthens the heart
of man, and goes on to the true Sacrament of the Passover, so that just as
Melchisedech, the priest of the Most High God, in prefiguring Him, made bread
and wine an offering, He too makes Himself manifest in the reality of His own
Body and Blood." (Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew 4:26:26)
"You
ought to know what you have received, what you are going to receive, and what
you ought to receive daily. That Bread which you see on the altar, having been
sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. The chalice, or rather,
what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the
Blood of Christ." (Sermons 227)
St.
Leo the Great (461 A.D.)
"When
the Lord says: 'Unless you shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and
shall have drunk His blood, you shall not have life in you,' you ought to so
communicate at the Sacred Table that you have no doubt whatever of the truth of
the Body and the Blood of Christ. For that which is taken in the mouth is what
is believed in faith; and in do those respond, 'Amen,' who argue against that
which is received."
The Lørd’s Supper
As is our custom on the first Sunday of each
month, today we’ll share The Lørd’s Supper with our Savior
and the saints of all ages. The Supper’s
one of the most important acts of worship in our faith. Nowadays the preaching of the Word is
the
Keep the Feast
The Supper isn’t just a “New Testament”
practice. It’s an extension of the
weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread described in Exodus and observed the world
over {at this time of year}. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread is called Passover. Yahweh
tells us,
Exodus 12:17. You
must keep the feast of Unleavened Bread because it was on that day that I
brought your hosts out of
“Generation after generation” means
forever. “All time” means “our
time.” Why unleavened bread (i.e.
without yeast)? Because the Israelites
left
Yeasts are living organisms. They multiply and multiply, and the waste
products left in dough or grape juice causes rising in the bread and fermenting
in the juice. Yeast is a ‘type’ of sin;
specifically, that of insincerity. As a
prelude to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, worshipers seek to remove anything
containing yeast from their homes beforehand, in obedience to the commandment
of Exodus 12:15: “on the first day you must clean out the yeast!”
Yahshua explains, “A little yeast yeasts the
whole enchilada.” In other words, small
sin-creatures grow to pollute the entire person over time.
So the Supper is an amplification of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. Paul the
Apostle also makes this connection when he says,
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Throw out
the old yeast so that you can be the fresh dough, unleavened as you are. For our Passover has been sacrificed,
that is, Messiah; let us keep the feast with none of the
old yeast of evil and wickedness, but only the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.
We are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread
according to Paul, and we do whenever we partake of the Communion elements in
sincerity. We prepare our temples
beforehand by gathering up the fragments of yeast and casting them out (a type of the dispersion). Many or
most come forward to the Supper completely unprepared for the supernatural
power available through it. And thus
they get nothing out of it, except trouble.
1
Corinthians 11:28 warns the communicant:
Everyone
is to examine himself and only then eat of the bread or drink from the cup; 29.
because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body is eating and
drinking his own condemnation. 30. That is why many of you are weak and ill and
a good number have died.
When was the last time you
heard a sermon preached on this – that “a good number” have died on account of
not recognizing the body in the Communion?
Can this be possible?
The Bread from Heaven, The Lamb of G-d
Well look: Yahshua said something very
controversial about bread that lost him many friends. He said,
John 6:51,53. I am the living bread that has come down from
heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will
live forever; and the bread I shall give is my flesh for the life of the
world. If you do not eat the flesh of
the Son of Man you have no life in you.
He says his flesh is
bread and instructs us that if we don’t eat him, we can’t live. That’s the body we’re to recognize. It’s very controversial, and not many
Christians actually believe it, even though what he’s saying is very, very
clear.
We find him reiterating this when he
institutes the Supper.
Matthew 26:26. As
they were eating, Yahshua took bread, and when he had said the blessing he
broke it and gave it to the disciples. He said, “Take it and eat; this is my
body.”
Being himself perfect in
righteousness and sinless, Yahshua became the final Passover lamb, the Lamb of
G-d, sent to earth by his Father to be sacrificed for our sins, once and for
all. He blesses the bread and proclaims
the bread to be his sacrificed body.
That’s why we don’t eat lamb at communion; he is the lamb first,
then he is the bread; Yahshua, the Lamb and the Bread are all the
same. The prophet didn’t say, “Behold,
he’s like the Lamb,” but
“There is the Lamb” (John
1:36).
And Yahshua didn’t say of
the blessed bread, “this represents my body,” but,
“This is
my body” (Matthew 26:26).
If we partake of the bread
of his body in the faith of his plain speaking, and if we strive daily to
become him, if we cast out the yeast, then we’ll avoid the strict
judgment set aside for the disobedient, we’ll bypass the second death, and
enter into active eternal life through and with him.
Of the Bread
This brings us to a definitive Biblical understanding of the Supper’s bread. The bread’s to be unleavened, blessed
as and eaten as the very body of Yahshua. This is why I use this (wafer) in Supper (show a
Communion wafer) and not Wonder Bread,
a stale hot dog bun or a Kaiser roll.
This wafer is fine wheat bread. There’s nothing in it but wheat and water: no
yeast, oil or additives. It’s made
special and consecrated for service exclusively for our Feast. It’s not used for anything else. You can’t make a ham sandwich out of it. When this bread’s blessed and eaten in faith,
it becomes for us the body of Yahshua in a spiritual yet very real
sense.
Do you know that there’s a physical reality
and there’s a spiritual reality?
Scientists agree with the Bible about multi-dimensional reality, though
often unseen, is just as tangible (if not more so) than what we see with our
eyes. With our limited wits, this bread doesn’t seem to change; it doesn’t make
cannibals of us. But in the spiritual
realm, in the dimension of Heaven, it becomes flesh; the perfect body of our
Master –
once wounded for our rebellions, once crushed because of our guilt; once punished for our healing (Isaiah 53:5).
Of the Wine
So what of the wine: Well, if the Supper is
an extension of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover, we may look to that
and learn. You might’ve noticed that
when Yahshua keeps the Feast, there are two cups of wine drunk – one before the
bread and one after. The last cup is for
Elijah, in hopes that he’ll enter in through the open door with Messiah
following at his heels.
The prophetic meaning of the second draught,
the Elijah Cup, was fulfilled when Yahshua came as a babe. It will again be fulfilled at his return – a
frightful event that’ll surely pass in our generation. Are you prepared to stand before him? (Discursion: Did Yahshua use wine or grape juice?[11])
As the bread is the Savior’s body, he
also tells us that the “wine” is his blood.
So the supernatural metamorphoses also happens with the wine. Yahshua goes further to say that the wine is
“the New Covenant in my blood.” The New Covenant is prophesied in
Jeremiah 31:31-34 excerpts
The days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall make a new covenant with the
Houses of Israel and Judah. I shall
plant my Law within them, writing it on their hearts. There will
be no further need for everyone to say, ‘Know Yahweh!’ For they will all
know me, from the least to the greatest, since I shall forgive their guilt
and never more call their sin to mind.”
Those days have come since the evil in man
spilt Yahshua’s precious blood. The two
houses of
Isaiah 52:4. For the Sovereign Yahweh says
this,
“5. Now what is to be done since my people have been
carried off for nothing, their masters howl in triumph and my name is held in contempt
all day, every day? 6. Because of this my people will know my name, because
of this they will know when the day comes, that it is I saying, Here I am!”
Who are these remnants – those who Yahweh
calls “my people”? Would it surprise you
to learn that you are the remnant
of
And where are the remnants to be
gathered? Scripture and local geography
make it clear that one gathering place is right here. Have you ever considered what your names
mean, also the place names hereabouts? Would you like to know where you came
from in the last four thousand years and where you’re going in the next
thousand? This information is readily
available to you if you want to know. If
your roots and future are important enough to you that you’re willing to dig
for the truth, then maybe you’re one who can understand why knowing your
Father’s name is so controversial and yet now so essential. Everyone these days knows of Allah, but how
many believers accept their own heavenly Father’s name?
He
invented the New Covenant in Yahshua’s blood for your protection. Father Yahweh promises to plant his Law
within the gathered pieces, writing it upon hearts, so that we may remain
unmolested and in peace. Prophets no
longer admonish you to “know Yahweh,” for in our day, “all will know him, from the least to the greatest.” And now you do know. When we as a body partake of his body and
blood, we’re declaring Yahshua’s New Covenant and Yahweh’s
Friend, you’re in a very privileged position
as a consecrated citizen of Kingdom Come.
Sacrament
Bread as body and wine as blood is also
stated plainly in the United Methodist Book of Disciple. It says,
The Supper … is not
only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves, but
rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ’s death; insomuch
that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive [it], the
bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ.
This language was drafted
in 1808 and hasn’t changed in 200 years.
It makes us clear that this Supper is not merely a sign or symbol or
memorial. Instead, it’s a sacrament:
something we do in faith in the physical realm that elicits
greater, more abundant favor, from heaven; something we do in the
natural that causes something to be
done in the supernatural.
And that’s what’s meant when we say it’s a sacrament – partaking
in faith is a sure means of
receiving greater favor. ¿And don’t we, the lost children of
No Difference
Finally, most church folks can’t see any difference
between Methodists and the next bunch; but there’re great and important
differences regarding.
Methodists are Episcopals. “Episcopal”
means that a Bishop (episkopoV) provides oversight, just as it’s written in the New Testament. Our
Episco-pal, the Bishop, has asked
that we distinguish our beliefs and the Methodist Way from the rest of the
pack. Why? Because we believe we hold the higher truth,
and we strive to make in available to all.
Our understanding of the Supper as a partaking
of the body of Yahshua in a literal sense, is just one of the great,
Scriptural truths that distinguish us.
Others take communion as only a remembrance, but we take his words literally.
Others commune out of duty, and that’s commendable. But we do it in faith, believing the
literal truth of his words (this is my body, this is my blood),
and therefore we’re promised greater favor than they: favor for rescue,
for restoration, for regeneration, for sanctification, for healing, for life,
for deliverance, for perfection.
Whatever you need, he’ll provide it
supernaturally if you’ll approach his table with repentance, faith and a pure,
yeast-free heart.
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The End
Since we have such a lofty and literal understanding
of our Master’s Supper, we’re all the more interested in preparing it
prayerfully and with care, and using the ingredients and blessings he
prescribes for it. Prepare with prayer
and fasting! This is why we gather with heart-felt repentance and rededicate
our lives afresh every time we approach his blessed table. Let us now avail ourselves of the
incomparable privilege – let’s approach the throne of favor and receive our
daily bread.
The Lørd’s Supper
based on the older version
Let us pray: Almighty
heavenly Father, who mercifully gave your only Son Yahshua Messiah to suffer
death for our redemption, a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world,
who commanded us to continue a memorial of his death until his return: Hear us.
Sanctify these gifts of bread and wine that we may partake of his divine
nature. Amen.
Minister: On the night he was betrayed, he took bread; gave thanks, broke
it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body which is
given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
{The bread is lifted, broken and held in up for a moment, then
returned.}
Minister: After supper he took the cup; gave thanks, and offered it to
them, saying, “Drink this; it is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed
for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins; do this in remembrance of
me.” {The cup is likewise lifted and
returned.}
Let us pray: Heavenly
Father, we desire your goodness to accept our sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving, asking you to grant that we may be forgiven of our sins and
receive all other benefits of his passion, by the merits and death of your Son
Yahshua Christ, through faith in his blood,
We offer to you our souls and bodies as a
reasonable and holy sacrifice, humbly asking that we who partake may be filled
with your grace and approval.
And though, because of our many sins, we are
unworthy to offer you any sacrifice, yet we ask you to accept this our duty and
service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses.
Father Yahweh, allow us to partake of
this Sacrament of thy Son Yahshua Christ, that we may walk in newness of life,
may grow into his likeness, and may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.
Agnus Dei
O Lamb of Yah,
who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of Yah,
who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of Yah,
who taketh away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
{Other
prayers of thanksgiving, petition or healing may here be said.}
All this through Yahshua
Messiah our Master, by whom, and with whom in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all
honor and glory be yours, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.
{Here the elements are
received; then the benediction is pronounced.}
Eucharist
According To The Didache
(or, The Teaching of the Twelve)
An Apostolic Manual of Discipline
You, Almighty Master, created all things for the sake of your Name, and
have given both meat and drink for us to enjoy that we might give thanks to
you; but to us you have also given spiritual meat and drink and everlasting
life through your beloved Son. Above
all, we thank you that you are able to save: to you be respect forever.
Remember,
O Master, your Congregation, to redeem this remnant from every evil, and to
perfect all in it by your love, and gather it together from the four winds,
even that which has been sanctified for your kingdom you prepared for it; for
yours is the kingdom and the admiration for ever.
Let favor
come then let this world pass away.
Hosanna to the Son of David. If
any one is holy let him come to the Eucharist; if any one is not, let him
repent. Maranatha. Amen.
First,
concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine, David your
Son, who you have made known unto us through Yahshua the Anointed One, your
Son; to you be the glory for ever.
Then concerning
the broken bread: We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge that you
have made known to us through Yahshua your Son; to you be the glory forever.
As this
broken bread was once scattered upon the mountains, and after it had been brought
together became one, so may your Congregation be gathered together from the
ends of the earth unto thy kingdom; for thine is the glory, and the power,
through Yahshua Messiah, for ever.